Virtual Meeting XIII, 20 December 2016

1. The thirteenth meeting for the National and Regional IGF Initiatives (NRIs) took place on 20 December 2016 at 15:00 pm UTC. The main purpose of the meeting was for the NRIs to provide feedback on the NRIs related activities at the 11th IGF Meeting, mainly on the NRIs main session, coordination session and the NRIs joint booth.

2. The Meeting was hosted by Ms. Anja Gengo, the IGF Secretariat’s Focal Point for the NRIs. This Summary Report will reflect the main key points raised during the meeting.

3. The Agenda is attached to this document as Appendix A1 and a list of Meeting Participants as Appendix A2. Appendix A3 includes a list of other relevant documents, as referenced in this report.

SUMMARY REPORT

Introductions, NRIs updates and Agenda adoption

4. Participants introduced themselves stating which NRIs they are affiliated with, and were asked to share any updates on their Initiatives’ activities and future plans.

5. From the UK IGF, participants were briefed that the video recording from the 2016 annual meeting are available at this national IGF’s website.

6. It was informed that the national IGF of Sri Lanka is tentatively schedule to be on 8 March 2017.

7. On behalf of the Croatian IGF, participants were updated that the Organizing Team had a planning meeting a day before this meeting and that it was decided that the 2017 national IGF of Croatia will be organized during the last week of May, most probably in Opatija, at the same time when another big technological conference will happen.

8. From SEEDIG, participants were informed that the Call for inputs for issues to be discussed at the 2017 SEEDIG annual meeting is open until 31 December 2016. After the deadline, a virtual planning meeting will be organized in mid-January, for starting the process of building a draft program and planning the intersessional activities. It was reminded that the meeting is schedule to be in Ohrid, the FYR of Macedonia on 25 May 2017.

9. After these updates, the Host shared the agenda with everyone that was unanimously adopted.

NRIs Main Session Feedback

10. The Host asked participants to provide feedback on the overall organization of the NRIs main session, and suggestions for improvements.

11. Participants agreed that this session was a good start for the NRIs to present their work to the wider IGF community. It was emphasized that this session showcased that the NRIs have many quality inputs to offer to the global IGF, making its content being more comprehensive.

12. Many agreed that the overall preparations for this session, that initially started from the NRIs substantive session during the 10th IGF annual meeting in Brazil, in November 2015, have created a sense of community, that culminated and became stronger when speakers finally had opportunity to meet in person and finalized more than a yearlong preparatory work in the same physical space. The sense of having an NRIs network is more stronger post-IGF 2016 meeting for the NRIs, but also it was said, for the wider IGF community that finally had opportunity to hear about the NRIs joint work.

13. Some noted that many of the participants that were listening the session expressed that they were surprised by the fact on how many similarities and differences there are across different entities, which makes the session objectives achieved.

14. On the way forward, the logistical challenges need to be clearly identified, in order for the NRIs community to develop sets of goals for improvements.

15. Many participants stated that the biggest challenge for this session was to create opportunity within the 3-hours period of time, for everyone to have equal participation. It was estimated that this segment will pose even bigger challenge in years ahead to keep the session scalable and sustainable, as the NRIs network promises to grow.

16. It was recommended to think of ways on how to make this session being more interactive, as that will increase its value. This was expressed in line with reflecting the IGF community intersessional work as a good way for the NRIs network’s engagement.

17. In line with improving the format of the session, many agreed that the room setup needs to meet the NRIs requirement, as the session will be more effective.

18. It was suggested to focus on one substantive topic, instead on four for the next years. Some participants advised to start the process of deciding on the particular topic that will be discussed as soon as possible in the year, so that the NRIs can adjust their bottom-up programs in a way to effectively collect inputs from their respective communities, that will later be integrated in the NRIs session content.

19. One participant advised for the regional IGFs to build stronger collaboration with their respective communities that they encompass, so that more comprehensive inputs could be built in the NRIs session at the IGF annual meeting for the next years. More sessions for the NRIs at the global IGF meeting is needed, so that countries and regions can get more visibility, and the IGF community clearer picture on the specific issues and practices existing across the world.

20. Online participation was rated as a critically important element to the session, due to the fact that many of the NRIs could not attend the meeting on-site. Some participants shared their experience on how the online participation worked this year, claiming that the technical conditions were very good and that they were able to follow the entire session, as well as to intervene successfully. However, it was emphasized that there is a different feeling of participating online, due to the fact that the sense of community is much stronger when the participants are present in the same physical space.

NRIs Coordination Session Feedback

21. It was noted that this session was useful, as it brought all IGF sides around one table, where it was clearly said that the NRIs are respected as independent and autonomous entities, that bring valuable inputs from their respective communities to the IGF.

22. This session once again confirmed that the biggest challenges the NRIs are facing in their work are related to the multistakeholder engagement, engagement of Governments and achieving diversity within the overall organization of the NRIs annual meetings.

23. Inputs received from many of the NRIs on this session will serve as a good starting point for the future meetings, to map the issues and develop a set of potential solutions, including identifying areas where all IGF actors could help.

NRIs Booth Feedback

24. Participants agreed that the initial objective of having the NRIs booth, which was to create a gathering point for all NRIs, and an information place for all interested stakeholders, was successfully achieved.

25. The NRIs coordinators that acted as the booth captains noted that the many of the stakeholders interested in the NRIs work, as well as the ones that would like to engage with the existing NRIs or start the new ones, approached the booth and asked for concrete information. The Secretariat reported that with many of the stakeholders that started their organizational processes spoke while being at the booth, about the practical ways of organizing an IGF.

26. Many noted that the NRIs need to focus on finding ways in having more support for printing the information materials and translate it to some languages, depending on the capacity, as the material that was prepared for this year’s IGF showed to be very effective for the community.

27. It was agreed that the practice of NRIs organizing a joint booth should continue in the following years.

IGF Retreat

28. Participants were reminded that the output document from the IGF Retreat is available for commenting at the IGF Review Platform, as it was asked for the comment period extension during the Taking Stock session at the 2016 IGF meeting.

29. Everyone were encouraged to comment on the document, especially as it largely reflects the NRIs work.

Next Steps

30. The Secretariat will summarize the key suggestions raised during the Meeting and will distribute the Meeting Summary Report through the NRIs mailing list.

31. Next meeting: The Secretariat will communicate with the NRIs and make a work plan for 2017 year. The calls will be planned according to the agreed plan, starting from January 2017.

32. For any suggestions or questions regarding the Report, kindly contact the IGF Secretariat’s NRIs Focal Point at: [email protected].